The Webster County School District will conduct a budget hearing at 5 p.m. July 16 in the district office boardroom.
The proposed budget for the district predicts $16.12 million in revenue for fiscal year 2018-19. Of that amount, 17.7 percent, or $2.85 million, is proposed to be financed through a total ad valorem tax levy.
The proposed local property tax levy represents a 5 percent increase from the current levy of $2.66 million. The 5 percent increase in local contribution will be earmarked specifically for security in the day-to-day operations of the schools, according to Superintendent Brian Jones.
He explained that the district fully handled the cost of hiring a security firm in April to provide armed security guards for each of the school campuses for the remainder of the school year. This followed a March 28 drive-by shooting near the Eupora School Band hall in which no one was injured.
Just nine days before that incident, the School Board authorized spending $500,000 from 16th Section funds for increased security measures — including security fencing and gates at all school campuses. Jones, as he has previously stated, said security is his No. 1 priority.
School Business Administrator Angela Avent-White will review budget details at the hearing. Besides the security guards, she said other expenditures of note include upgrading the school system’s Wi-Fi for state testing purposes, buying cameras for every bus, and hiring an instructor for the new Teacher Academy program at the Career and Technology Center.
Mississippi Adequate Education Program funding for 2018-19 is $153,153 more than last year’s allocation. However, Avent-White noted the district had to cut spending for personnel after significant cuts in MAEP funding in 2016-17. She said the new funds will go toward staffing needs to meet the preferred student-teacher ratio.
A regular meeting of the School Board will follow the hearing at 6 p.m. A special board meeting was to be held Thursday night.
